Science and technology

Searching for the sand-pile pressure dip

Article Abstract:

A group of physicists believe they have found a new method for explaining why a conical pile of sand exerts its maximum pressure in a ring around the center rather than at the center itself. It appears that main compressive stresses, falling along fixed parallel lines, steer the pile's weight away from the center.

Author: Watson, Andrew

Publisher:American Association for the Advancement of SciencePublication Name:ScienceSubject:Science and technologyISSN:0036-8075Year:1996

Granular materials, Mechanics, Engineering mechanics

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Physicists trap photons and count them one by one

Article Abstract:

French scientists have designed an experiment that allows photons to be counted. The photons, from a microwave source, go through a chamber and are individually bombarded by atoms. The results of the experiment were published in the Mar 1996 issue of Physical Review Letters.

Author: Watson, Andrew

Publisher:American Association for the Advancement of SciencePublication Name:ScienceSubject:Science and technologyISSN:0036-8075Year:1996